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The first sign, Theo ignores. Liam actively trying to hang out with him more is weird, but doesn’t send alarm bells off in his head. He sort of assumes the beta’s more comfortable with him now, after everything that happened with Monroe, plus he’s in constant need of help with biology homework.
Otherwise, Theo’s lonely. So either the sign isn’t obvious enough, or he ignores it.
The second sign is when Stiles comes home to Beacon Hills. Normally, being with family over a holiday break wouldn’t be weird, but when he talks to Theo, not like a suspect but just… a person?
Red flag #1: Stiles Stilinski is nice to him for more than 0.5 seconds.
With the pack all together in Beacon Hills for the winter holidays, the town should feel safe and comfortable, the presence of other supernaturals that aren’t trying to murder him should be welcoming. Even when he’s invited to parties with the rest of the pack, dragged into the circle of conversation by Scott or Liam, it’s… it’s not quite right.
What the hell are they planning?
Red flag #2: Scott thanks him for being there for Liam.
Excuse me, since when does Scott approve of my being around Liam? He might’ve told me to go rescue him at the hospital, but I almost tricked Liam into killing him? He’s either insane, stupid or planning something.
And if there’s one thing Theo’s good at, it’s picking up on when he’s being manipulated. He did it for long enough himself, that he’s gotten pretty good at it. When the Hales aren’t around, he’s the only wolf in the room who actually knows how to use his senses and chemosignals. He knows when he’s being lied to, even by a true alpha.
Red flag #3: Liam falls asleep on his shoulder.
It’s less of a red flag and instead-
Very.
Extremely.
Confusing.
With the beta’s soft breathing filling the air, his soft hair brushing against Theo’s chin with every movement, he knows he should move. He should wake Liam up, and get the hell out of his house. But when Liam curls into him, arm tucked behind his back and nose pressed into his neck, any reasonable sense in his being evaporates.
Red flag #4: The pack finds out about him living in his truck and the Geyer’s let him stay with them.
Why in fucking God would Liam want Theo, a boy who’s committed countless crimes and nearly destroyed the pack, in his house, with his family, at all times? And why is Theo letting himself be swept up by this? Helping with dinner, doing chores, going shopping with Liam, driving him to school and back. He’s aiding in his own destruction.
When Scott drops by unannounced, he brings little housewarming gifts, a stone wolf statue Theo recognizes as something Liam keeps on his dresser. He hugs Theo before heading back outside, leaving the chimera stunned and standing in the living room like an NPC who’s task was just canceled.
Red flag #5: The sword
Liam has a piece of Kira’s sword in his room.
The same sword that sent Theo to hell, the one that he made the pack break in order to get information out of him, as insurance to not be sent back with his sister.
He’s not meant to see it, he knows. He goes into Liam’s room while the beta’s napping, fallen asleep on top of his schoolwork and cuddled adorably in his messy blankets on the bed. Theo only wants to know where he wants to get dinner from while his parents have date night, and turns to leave the second he sees Liam asleep. Beacon Hills is throwing more and more supernatural nonsense at them in recent weeks, ramping up to where Scott called Peter for backup (interrupting Peter’s month-long vacation is a death sentence, which means something’s very wrong).
Since he’s taking a gap year after this semester, and taking over protecting Beacon Hills from Scott, Liam’s had enough on his plate. Coaxing the beta to wake up from the couch to go to sleep in his own bed is hard enough work. Theo takes what he can get.
The chimera shuts the lamp in the corner off, but his eyes catch something in the dark, like light hitting metal just under Liam’s dresser. He kneels and touches at it lightly, then jerks back, nearly falling on his ass.
It’s cold, but just a touch burns Theo’s skin like nothing else.
When he realizes what it is, he gets out of Liam’s room as fast as he can, nearly falling down the stairs and into Jenna, who’s packing her purse up to leave. She gives him a reassuring smile, but what he gives back has to be anything but calm.
Why does Liam still have a piece of the sword?
Red flag #6: Someone’s coming home
The pack is absolutely ecstatic when Noshiko reaches out to tell them Kira’s coming home to Beacon Hills. Scott and Lydia even start planning a pack get-together. On the outside, it’s a wonderful moment for their pack, someone coming home after defeating their inner demons and coming out the other side better. On the inside, it’s a trap. They don’t know that Theo found the piece of the sword. He knows what they’re trying to do now.
Theo fought his inner demons, in the hell Kira sent him to. She’s being celebrated. And he’s getting sent back.
They’re trying to send me back to hell.
End goal: Kira’s home
Theo stays far away from Liam all day. He leaves the house the second the pack group chat pings with dozens of messages, of Scott picking Kira up from the airport. He didn’t take Liam to school, didn’t even text him at all.
He just drove. Took his truck and went as deep into the preserve as he could get, before getting out and running. Going back to Tara has been what he’s avoided this entire time, what he’s done all this for. After this long, he thought maybe, just maybe, the pack could start to let him back in.
But apparently, what he did went too far.
And he hasn’t done enough to repay them.
So he goes after the new supernatural creature. None of the rest have gotten near to it, the one who tears full grown werewolves apart and leaves them in shreds around town. Malia only saw it once, while running through the preserve, hunched over a body in its clutches, being torn to pieces. Going after it, without Deaton and Argent back from a trip to figure out what it is, has been Scott’s #1 rule. As many times as the pack protested, he didn’t budge. The creature never came into Beacon Hills, only touched those who wandered into its neck of the woods.
Theo would rather find himself in its bloody clutches than that of the pack trying to send him away.
He does. With claws raking down his torso, tearing flesh and muscle and everything in between until he can barely feel anything but blood pouring out of his chest, the creature attacks with everything it has. Theo gives only 25% of his fight. He pulls punches, moves slow and gets hit. Every time a bone breaks, every time claws slash through his skin, is a reminder that he’s still alive. His body can hurt, can bleed, heart can still pump. He’s still here. If he dies here, at least he won’t be with Tara again.
The creature is a blur of black fur, red eyes and long, blood covered limbs. It looks like a full shift werewolf from horror movies, not the actual ones Theo sees every day. Every time it steps away from him, encircling its prey and licking his blood from its claws, the low growling it makes sends chills up his spine.
When it finally pins him to the ground, clawed paw spearing deep into his chest and fangs driving into his collarbone, a scream rips out of his throat, his own claws digging helplessly into the dirt next to him. As it bites down further, his vision starts to blur.
Fangs drawing away from his neck, blood pouring out the open wounds, makes him whimper, one hand scrabbling at the claws embedded in his chest. The creature doesn’t move, only stares down and watches him struggle. He can barely see or hear, the only feeling pain, the only scent his own blood. The cough that comes out wracks his body, stabbing up and down every limb. One leg has no feeling at all, the torn fabric of his pants and amount of blood pouring out concealing the fact it’s even part of a person.
But like Scott said, he’s barely even human, right?
When the claws rip from his chest, the next cough spurts blood up, covering his already wrecked t-shirt and neck. His lungs burns with every breath. It rears back on its hind legs, studying Theo’s every movement.
Out of nowhere, a blur collides with it, knocking it to the ground on its side. Theo blinks a few times, his normally keen sense of sight in the dark failing him with how much energy his body is putting towards keeping himself alive. Snarls tear through the night air, sound of claws on branches and feet skidding through leaf-covered mud.
His senses recover enough for him to smell who’s there. Liam.
Fuck, he’s coming to take me back to the pack.
Realistically, he shouldn’t be able to move. His body is so broken he should be dead by now, only held together by the sluggish healing of his chimera. Fear clouds realism and common sense. He’s been shifting for so long, he hardly feels it anymore, not until now, every bone and muscle tensing and clicking and burning as he full shifts on the ground. Until he’s a wolf again, getting up on shaky legs.
He hears his name behind him.
He doesn’t care. He just runs.
It doesn’t last. He’s never shifted like this before, this injured, and it gives out less than a quarter mile into fleeing. When he can’t take another step, body falling heavily to the forest ground, he squeezes his eyes shut, wishing the wounds would take him before the pack could.
Shifting back hurts worse than ever before, especially uncontrolled. His body shivers from the wind, against the frozen ground and frost bitten dead plants he landed in, smearing with his blood. As much as it hurts, he can’t stop it. His entire body wracked with sobs, each worse than the last, burning and tearing at his destroyed being.
He can’t breathe.
I can’t breathe.
A hand lands on his shoulder lightly, snapping his tear-blurred eyes open and up. He cries harder at the sight, at those glistening blue eyes staring down at him. It’s Liam, of course it is. Why not make his hell worse, by letting the last thing in life be those beautiful eyes, to torment him for the rest of his short and hell bound existence.
“Please,” he manages to say, throat shredded so badly his words are a whisper. “Please just kill me, don’t send me back, just kill me. ”
Liam gasps a second after the pain dulls in his body, the beta lurching forward and barely catching himself above Theo’s body. The chimera sobs until he coughs up more blood, and then until even with Liam taking his pain and holding him steady, he blacks out.
Sirens wailing shake him back awake, to the hand gently stroking his forehead. His lashes are clumped with tears when they open, looking up into those blue eyes watching his. Liam stops moving, swallowing hard. They’re in the back of an ambulance, Theo’s been in enough to know that, a soft blanket covering his entire body.
“We’re almost there,” Liam says softly. “What were you thinking? ”
No words come out of his mouth. He tries, but nothing does. Not even a whimper escapes when he moves, jets of stabbing pain shooting through his torso. There’s tears in Liam’s eyes as he continues to take his pain.
“No one’s going to hurt you anymore, I promise,” he murmurs, going back to running his fingers through Theo’s hair, thumb brushing across his burning forehead with every stroke. “I promise.”
I shouldn’t believe you. I don’t believe you.
But I so desperately want to.
The hospital is packed, the noises hitting Theo from every direction driving his headache into a new range of agony. Liam’s at his side as they push his gurney down the hall, taking his pain and talking to Melissa. The knot in Theo’s gut twists. If she knows he’s here, so does Scott. Which means he’s not going to wake up all better.
He’s going to wake up in the morgue.
Liam stays next to him until the doctors push him out, the beta’s eyes flaring before Melissa pulls him out of the room, her words soothing to Liam but not reaching Theo’s own ears. There’s no comfort here, not anymore.
He fades out, and hopes it’s the end.
Theo does wake up, but not in the morgue. But to the sound of beeping, and to someone’s hand on his. He blinks a few times, Liam in the chair next to him, fast asleep. He smiles, but even that small movement hurts. The hand around his squeezes, blue eyes fluttering open to capture his own gaze.
“I’ve never wanted to punch you in the face more,” Liam says to start, before diving in to hug Theo fiercely. The pressure hurts badly , but he can’t stop himself. With one arm under Liam, he takes the other and wraps it around the beta, stopping to stare at the IV line hooked to his elbow and the bandages up and down his entire arm.
When Liam draws back, dropping back into his seat, he sighs. “Sorry,” he grimaces. “I couldn’t help it, watching you lay there for the last two days has been driving me mildly insane.” His throat can’t force the words out, but his widening eyes seem to do enough of the trick. Liam’s lips part slightly, eyes dropping to the floor. “Whatever attacked you nearly killed you. They said… they said you might not wake up at all.” He pats Theo’s hand, and gets up.
Theo reaches out and grasps his wrist tugging him back. “Liam,” he manages to get out, voice worse than after a three-day long coughing fit and losing his voice for a week. “Was that enough?”
“What?”
“To not send me back.” His grip on Liam’s hand weakens, but the beta grabs him with the other, not letting go. “I’ll do anything.”
The beta’s forehead wrinkles in confusion. “Theo, what are you talking about?”
“Hell, the sword, Tara,” he whines, tipping his head back in the pillow to shove away some of the pain in his neck. “ Please, Liam.”
Liam starts crying. Like the beta pulls on his heartstrings, Theo does too.
It’s not until Scott comes into the hospital room, to Liam and Theo sobbing into each, that anything changes. He takes Theo’s pain before sitting in the chair opposite Liam, so both can look at him while he talks.
“My mom says-”
“He thought we were sending him back underground,” Liam interrupts, wiping his tears away. “He thought… Scott, fuck we’re so stupid.”
The alpha goes still. “He… you what? ” He turns to look at Theo, at his broken body and shining eyes. “Oh Theo , I’m… you thought all of this was to get you off guard, to send you back.”
He nods stiffly and Scott leans his face into his hands, groaning loudly. Are they… not, sending me back? Or is this another part of the plan?
“Many of us would be dead without you,” Scott says to him. “I wanted you to stay in Beacon Hills, with the pack, because frankly, I missed having you around.” He smiles sheepishly. “I know we can’t be friends like we were when we were kids, but I at least wanted you in my pack, just to try again.”
“Kira-”
“She came back to destroy the sword completely,” Liam says quietly. He pulls a small box from his pocket, gold wrapped in a white ribbon. “We couldn’t do it without her. Her welcome back party was a cover, to give you this.”
Theo watches him untie the ribbon, and slip the top off the box. Inside, is a ring, with a thick silver band and oval emblem in front, teal backing the cutout of a howling wolf in the forest. It hums and glows with power, with promises. Liam’s eyes land on Theo, a clear question without speaking. The chimera lifts his hand, and Liam wordlessly slips the ring on, setting his hand down gently. Theo curls his fists, his entire body settling at the movement, at the cool metal on his finger. He looks over at Liam.
This… can’t be happening. There is no way in hell, that this is all that’s been happening.
Scott picks up on the doubt. “You know Liam’s bad at controlling his heartbeat-” to which Liam scoffs, but doesn’t disagree. “Listen to his heart, to see if he’s lying.”
“That ring is all that remains of Kira’s sword,” Liam says. “It’s all yours, so you never have to fear it again.”
His heartbeat is steady.
He’s not lying.
“Your wounds are extensive,” Scott changes the subject abruptly, before Theo can have mental breakdown number ten thousand of the day. “While normally I’d chastise someone for doing something so stupid, I see now it may have been partially our fault.” He sighs. “The pack is stressed out of their minds right now, waiting for you to wake up, so I’m afraid you’re going to have to deal with them in a few minutes, when Peter brings them over. He’s been running them around all morning after they bothered him one too many times.”
Theo snorts. “I get that you were just trying to help but why were you so weird the last few months?” he demands, shooting an accusatory glare over at Liam.
“Because I’m in love with you, you fucking idiot.”
“I- wait WHAT?”
Scott lets out a short laugh, getting to his feet from the chair. “I’ll keep the wolves out for a while longer,” he smiles down at Theo. “I’m sorry I didn’t see you hurting. You’re a complicated person but I’ll get through to you eventually.”
This is why he’s a true alpha. The words that come out so easily, making Theo’s heart light up despite the horrendous pain he’s in. “Thank you. For everything.”
“You’re a part of my pack,” Scott says. “And you’re my friend. That’s what we do.”
Before he leaves, a final question pops into his head. “Hey, about that thing in the woods…”
“It’s alive,” Scott says tightly, smile dropping when he glances between him and Liam. “From what Liam described, I know what it is and… you’re not going to want to hear it.”
“Yes, I do,” He insists. “What is it?”
Scott and Liam exchange a long look, before Liam takes his hand again, the one with the ring. “Theo, it’s not what we thought. It’s an alpha werewolf. And it bit you.”